Alzheimer's disease is a serious affliction arising most often in individuals as they reach old age. Symptoms of Alzheimer's include serious memory loss, confusion and behavioral changes. The visible symptoms of Alzheimer's often only began arising in the later stages of the affliction. Changes within an individual's brain having Alzheimer's begin long before the appearance of memory loss and other visible symptoms. Existing treatments and medications have been shown to be more effective when begun upon the early stages of Alzheimer's. Thus, there is a need for providing for the early detection of Alzheimer's.
There are several current methods used in diagnosing Alzheimer's. These include the use of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging that employs ligands which selectively bind to amyloid-beta plaques that are one indication of Alzheimer's. In another technique magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarkers may be detected as an indication of Alzheimer's. These include the reduction of brain volume, specifically hippocampal volume which controls the memory part of the brain. Another indication may be decreased concentrations of amyloid-beta in the cerebral spinal fluid of an individual. Each of these methods have various drawbacks such as being expensive in the case of PET imaging and MRI or invasive and painful in the case of a lumbar puncture required to obtain cerebral spinal fluid.
Concentration measurement of organic and non-organic materials within human tissue is an increasingly important aspect of healthcare for individuals. The development of non-invasive measurement techniques for monitoring biological and metabolic agents within human tissue is an important aspect of diagnosis therapy of various human diseases and may play a key role in the proper management of diseases. One such material relevant to Alzheimer's is amyloid-beta. Thus, there is a need for an improved manner of amyloid-beta detection to better improve detection of early stages of Alzheimer's.